André 3000Photo: Tommaso Boddi (Getty Images)
Today in the news “We’ve never identified so strongly with André 3000”: André 3000 has explained that he made his new album out of experimental flute music because, well, what the hell is he going to rap about at 48? “No, I’m saying that age is a thing that determines what you rap about,” the former OutKast star noted in a new and very thoughtful profile that ran in GQ this week. “But in a way it does. And things that happen inside me.” Life, what are you talking about? “I have to have a colonoscopy.” What are you rapping about? “My eyesight is getting worse.” You can find cool ways to say it, but…”
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And of course he knows you want a rap album: the first track on New Blue Sun is titled “I swear, I Really Wanted To Make A ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time. ” But he notes, “I’ve worked with some of the newest, freshest, youngest and old-school producers. I get beats all the time. I try to write all the time. Even now people think, Oh man, he’s just sitting on the raps, or he’s just holding those raps hostage. I don’t have raps like that.”
All in all, everything points to a guy who loves music but is deeply ambivalent about returning to the life of a musical superstar. “I remember talking to my manager and publicist a few weeks ago,” he notes. “I really had to ask myself, ‘Do I want to be famous again?’ “The answer was: no. “But at the same time I want to promote music.”
New Blue Sun releases tomorrow; it contains literally no rap songs, as far as we know – but there is plenty of flute.